Ange Postecoglou expects Tottenham Hotspur attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski to be out until the international break after sustaining a foot injury.
The 24-year-old, who posted a picture on social media of himself in a protective boot on Tuesday, is expected to miss the club’s next four games, beginning with the Europa League round-of-16 first leg at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.
He will also likely be sidelined for the return leg in north London next week as well as Premier League games with Bournemouth and Fulham but Postecoglou allayed fears of anything longer than that.
“He’s had a knock on the foot. He’s not sure when,” Postecoglou said on Wednesday. “It’s been kind of sore for the past few weeks, but he’s been able to train and play for the past few weeks and still get through OK, but it wasn’t getting any better.
“We did some further investigations (and there was) no real clarity. Just waiting on a couple things to find out the extent of it. But yeah, likely to be out until the international break but nothing serious and no surgery or anything.”
Tottenham have had to deal with a long list of injury issues to his squad this season.
In attack, the likes of Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison have missed significant time, while Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie have all had prolonged absences had the back.
Kulusevski has been the only mainstay, appearing in all 42 of Spurs matches this season and starting 31. Only Pedro Porro has played more minutes for Tottenham (2,194) in the Premier League than Kulusevski (2,154) in 2024-25.
The Sweden international has been one of Postecoglou’s standout performers in what has been a difficult season, impressing on the right wing and in an attacking midfield role. He has scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in all competitions this campaign.
Postecoglou confirmed that Romero, Solanke and Van de Ven all trained on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s game but there will be no Ben Davies, who has missed the last two matches.
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
